Blog posts tagged with Microfinance News

In April of this year I attended a USAID webinar on migrant-backed loans in Guatemala and it got me thinking about the role of remittances in local economies, as well as their effect, if any, on microfinance activities in countries with high remittance rates.

Each year millions of migrant workers leave families behind to seek...

Kiva and Financial Access Institute (FAI), a consortium of leading development economists focused on substantially expanding access to quality financial services for low-income individuals, are partnering to bring you a three week educational series on the difference facets of microfinance! The full versions of these articles and the series are available on the FAI website. This week's blog is a basic introduction to the subject of microinsurance. Check out the past 101 blogs on microcredit...Continue Reading >>

Kiva and Financial Access Institute (FAI), a consortium of leading development economists focused on substantially expanding access to quality financial services for low-income individuals, are partnering to bring you a three week educational series on the difference facets of microfinance! The full versions of these articles and the series are available on the FAI website. ...

Kiva and Financial Access Institute (FAI), a consortium of leading development economists focused on substantially expanding access to quality financial services for low-income individuals,are partnering to bring you a three week educational series on the different facets of microfinance! We will explore the differences...Continue Reading >>

Analyzing the effectiveness of microcredit or microfinance to alleviate poverty has been the subject of many blogs, articles and academic research papers.

Some have focused on microcredit only – while others have attempted to look at the effectiveness of microfinance more broadly (not only the provision of loans, but also savings and non financial services such as education, training, etc.).

Some have focused on reducing poverty while others have focused on making it more “bearable”.

Some have attempted to evaluate the impact of receiving a microfinance...

Tracking social performance is a complex issue. In addition to tracking the progress of Kiva borrowers through the profiles and journal updates, Kiva looks at the social performance of our MFI partners to inform who we should be partnering with.

Some of the questions that we ask ourselves are:• who is the MFI reaching with its services?• what products does the MFI offer (variety of loans and beyond loans)?• what are the benefits to the clients?• how socially responsible is the MFI?

When hearing about microfinance, people are usually amazed (at the concept) and appalled (at the perceived high interest and fees of the microfinance institutions – or MFIs). Indeed, interest and fees relative to portfolio average 31% (23% in real terms).

If microfinance is serving mostly poor and excluded people, shouldn’t MFIs subsidize the loans? Are they taking advantage of the...Continue Reading >>

Kiva is proud to partner with Opportunity Fund, Silicon Valley Microfinance Network, and the U.S. ACCION Network on “Microfinance, USA,” a conference that will bring together 800 - 1,000 investors, policymakers, social entrepreneurs, practitioners, small business owners, and curious individuals to engage with microfinance strategies and practices unique to the United States.

We wanted to share this information with our community in case any of you are interested in attending!

Last week Reuters reported that the EU is working to create a micro-finance facility for the unemployed:"The European Commission said on Thursday it would create a 100 million euro ($141.1 million) micro-finance facility to provide credit to small businesses and encourage people who have lost jobs to start such enterprises."Read the whole article here. Continue Reading >>

The Center for Financial Inclusion's June newsletter gave some information about research being done on this subject:

Raising Funds for MFIs in the Face of the Global Financial Crisis

How has the global financial crisis affected the way MFIs are capitalizing their balance sheets? The Council for Microfinance Equity Funds (CMEF), is taking a closer look at this question through a study led by Willem Enklaar.

In January, CMEF launched a capitalization study with an online questionnaire asking MFIs about their funding... Continue Reading >>

Matt Flannery will join Mads Kjaer, Co-Founder and CEO of MYC4, at Silicon Valley Microfinance Network's Speaker Event this evening in San Francisco. Matt and Mads will discuss the hurdles their online peer-to-peer lending platforms have faced as the two young companies have developed over the last few years. The trail-blazing organizations have forced regulators, investors, philanthropists, borrowers, and others to ask new questions as we all form and find the answers together.

Over the weekend, the White House announced a new $100 million microfinance growth fund for the western hemisphere:

The global credit crisis is having a significant and harmful impact on the availability of finance for micro and small businesses that provide a majority of the jobs in the Hemisphere. This is one of the factors jeopardizing recent hard won gains in reducing poverty. While the region has a wealth of microfinance institutions, these lenders are now confronting a serious shortage of private finance from both international and local sources. As the supply of lending... Continue Reading >>

Last fall, we posted a blog on Kiva's participation in a few Consumer Protection Initiatives that have started to emerge in the microfinance industry. Organizations involved in microfinance at all levels are now increasingly paying attention to the clients (a.k.a., borrowers, clients, customers, entrepreneurs).

A Microfinance industry-wide Campaign for Client Protection...

... is expected to launch in mid-2009. The Campaign is an ambitious three-year initiative that aims to... Continue Reading >>

As you are probably aware, Kiva believes in the power of people across the globe to come together in pursuit of poverty alleviation through microfinance. In our operations, hundreds of volunteers support the editing and translating of businesses and the Kiva office is often teeming with volunteer interns and consultants from Oliver Wyman pitching in.

Many people have been asking me what the impact of the global financial crisis is, or will be, on microfinance. So, when two papers passed my desk this morning, I thought Kiva lenders might be interested in reading them too:

Click here to download the Foundation for Development Cooperation's briefing note titled "Impact of the Global Finanical Crisis on Microfinance".

Dr. Scott McLeod recently heard Alan November's keynote speech at ITEC 2008, where he commented on Kiva:"If the Web needed a reason to be invented, this is it."Check out Dr. McLeod's notes from the speech here. Continue Reading >>

On July 14-15th, the Financial Research Associates in association with The Silicon Valley Microfinance Network (SVMN) proudly hosted the Microfinance West: The Investment Opportunity conference at the Hilton in Fishmerman's Wharf here in San Francisco. The purpose of the conference was to focus on investment opportunities in the microfinance world, as microfinance has quickly expanded beyond the realm of philanthropy to also include an amalgamation of technological innovation and big retail investments. Premal Shah, Kiva's president, attended the conference on behalf of Kiva along with about... Continue Reading >>

The situation unfolding in Kenya has received a lot of press attention lately, and for good reason (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7172103.stm).

We have reached out to our local microfinance (MFI) partners in Kenya (see http://www.kiva.org/about/partners/).The situation on the ground appears to vary widely from community to community. However, one consistent report is that business is not operating as usual; most MFI operations have been interrupted or stopped altogether in the last week, whether due to imminent...

As many readers will know, Zopa Uk is a thriving p2p lending marketplace that's pioneering social lending in the UK. Zopa Italy (a franchisee of Zopa Uk) opened on November 14th, 2007.

Today marks the midpoint of a generous campaign that Zopa Italy is doing to grow their community of lenders and borrowers, and to help Kiva.org entrepreneurs at the same time. Between December 15th and January 15th,...Continue Reading >>

Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank were today awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to create economic and social benefit from below":"Muhammad Yunus has shown himself to be a leader who has managed to translate visions into practical action for the benefit of millions of people, not only in Bangladesh, but also in many other countries.

Loans to poor people without any financial security had appeared to be an impossible idea. From modest beginnings three decades ago, Yunus has, first and foremost through Grameen Bank, developed micro-credit into an ever more important... Continue Reading >>

Blog posts tagged with Microfinance News

In April of this year I attended a USAID webinar on migrant-backed loans in Guatemala and it got me thinking about the role of remittances in local economies, as well as their effect, if any, on microfinance activities in countries with high remittance rates.

Each year millions of migrant workers leave families behind to seek...

Kiva and Financial Access Institute (FAI), a consortium of leading development economists focused on substantially expanding access to quality financial services for low-income individuals, are partnering to bring you a three week educational series on the difference facets of microfinance! The full versions of these articles and the series are available on the FAI website. This week's blog is a basic introduction to the subject of microinsurance. Check out the past 101 blogs on microcredit...Continue Reading >>

Kiva and Financial Access Institute (FAI), a consortium of leading development economists focused on substantially expanding access to quality financial services for low-income individuals, are partnering to bring you a three week educational series on the difference facets of microfinance! The full versions of these articles and the series are available on the FAI website. ...

Kiva and Financial Access Institute (FAI), a consortium of leading development economists focused on substantially expanding access to quality financial services for low-income individuals,are partnering to bring you a three week educational series on the different facets of microfinance! We will explore the differences...Continue Reading >>

Analyzing the effectiveness of microcredit or microfinance to alleviate poverty has been the subject of many blogs, articles and academic research papers.

Some have focused on microcredit only – while others have attempted to look at the effectiveness of microfinance more broadly (not only the provision of loans, but also savings and non financial services such as education, training, etc.).

Some have focused on reducing poverty while others have focused on making it more “bearable”.

Some have attempted to evaluate the impact of receiving a microfinance...

Tracking social performance is a complex issue. In addition to tracking the progress of Kiva borrowers through the profiles and journal updates, Kiva looks at the social performance of our MFI partners to inform who we should be partnering with.

Some of the questions that we ask ourselves are:• who is the MFI reaching with its services?• what products does the MFI offer (variety of loans and beyond loans)?• what are the benefits to the clients?• how socially responsible is the MFI?

When hearing about microfinance, people are usually amazed (at the concept) and appalled (at the perceived high interest and fees of the microfinance institutions – or MFIs). Indeed, interest and fees relative to portfolio average 31% (23% in real terms).

If microfinance is serving mostly poor and excluded people, shouldn’t MFIs subsidize the loans? Are they taking advantage of the...Continue Reading >>

Kiva is proud to partner with Opportunity Fund, Silicon Valley Microfinance Network, and the U.S. ACCION Network on “Microfinance, USA,” a conference that will bring together 800 - 1,000 investors, policymakers, social entrepreneurs, practitioners, small business owners, and curious individuals to engage with microfinance strategies and practices unique to the United States.

We wanted to share this information with our community in case any of you are interested in attending!

Last week Reuters reported that the EU is working to create a micro-finance facility for the unemployed:"The European Commission said on Thursday it would create a 100 million euro ($141.1 million) micro-finance facility to provide credit to small businesses and encourage people who have lost jobs to start such enterprises."Read the whole article here. Continue Reading >>

The Center for Financial Inclusion's June newsletter gave some information about research being done on this subject:

Raising Funds for MFIs in the Face of the Global Financial Crisis

How has the global financial crisis affected the way MFIs are capitalizing their balance sheets? The Council for Microfinance Equity Funds (CMEF), is taking a closer look at this question through a study led by Willem Enklaar.

In January, CMEF launched a capitalization study with an online questionnaire asking MFIs about their funding... Continue Reading >>

Matt Flannery will join Mads Kjaer, Co-Founder and CEO of MYC4, at Silicon Valley Microfinance Network's Speaker Event this evening in San Francisco. Matt and Mads will discuss the hurdles their online peer-to-peer lending platforms have faced as the two young companies have developed over the last few years. The trail-blazing organizations have forced regulators, investors, philanthropists, borrowers, and others to ask new questions as we all form and find the answers together.

Over the weekend, the White House announced a new $100 million microfinance growth fund for the western hemisphere:

The global credit crisis is having a significant and harmful impact on the availability of finance for micro and small businesses that provide a majority of the jobs in the Hemisphere. This is one of the factors jeopardizing recent hard won gains in reducing poverty. While the region has a wealth of microfinance institutions, these lenders are now confronting a serious shortage of private finance from both international and local sources. As the supply of lending... Continue Reading >>

Last fall, we posted a blog on Kiva's participation in a few Consumer Protection Initiatives that have started to emerge in the microfinance industry. Organizations involved in microfinance at all levels are now increasingly paying attention to the clients (a.k.a., borrowers, clients, customers, entrepreneurs).

A Microfinance industry-wide Campaign for Client Protection...

... is expected to launch in mid-2009. The Campaign is an ambitious three-year initiative that aims to... Continue Reading >>

As you are probably aware, Kiva believes in the power of people across the globe to come together in pursuit of poverty alleviation through microfinance. In our operations, hundreds of volunteers support the editing and translating of businesses and the Kiva office is often teeming with volunteer interns and consultants from Oliver Wyman pitching in.

Many people have been asking me what the impact of the global financial crisis is, or will be, on microfinance. So, when two papers passed my desk this morning, I thought Kiva lenders might be interested in reading them too:

Click here to download the Foundation for Development Cooperation's briefing note titled "Impact of the Global Finanical Crisis on Microfinance".

Dr. Scott McLeod recently heard Alan November's keynote speech at ITEC 2008, where he commented on Kiva:"If the Web needed a reason to be invented, this is it."Check out Dr. McLeod's notes from the speech here. Continue Reading >>

On July 14-15th, the Financial Research Associates in association with The Silicon Valley Microfinance Network (SVMN) proudly hosted the Microfinance West: The Investment Opportunity conference at the Hilton in Fishmerman's Wharf here in San Francisco. The purpose of the conference was to focus on investment opportunities in the microfinance world, as microfinance has quickly expanded beyond the realm of philanthropy to also include an amalgamation of technological innovation and big retail investments. Premal Shah, Kiva's president, attended the conference on behalf of Kiva along with about... Continue Reading >>

The situation unfolding in Kenya has received a lot of press attention lately, and for good reason (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7172103.stm).

We have reached out to our local microfinance (MFI) partners in Kenya (see http://www.kiva.org/about/partners/).The situation on the ground appears to vary widely from community to community. However, one consistent report is that business is not operating as usual; most MFI operations have been interrupted or stopped altogether in the last week, whether due to imminent...

As many readers will know, Zopa Uk is a thriving p2p lending marketplace that's pioneering social lending in the UK. Zopa Italy (a franchisee of Zopa Uk) opened on November 14th, 2007.

Today marks the midpoint of a generous campaign that Zopa Italy is doing to grow their community of lenders and borrowers, and to help Kiva.org entrepreneurs at the same time. Between December 15th and January 15th,...Continue Reading >>

Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank were today awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to create economic and social benefit from below":"Muhammad Yunus has shown himself to be a leader who has managed to translate visions into practical action for the benefit of millions of people, not only in Bangladesh, but also in many other countries.

Loans to poor people without any financial security had appeared to be an impossible idea. From modest beginnings three decades ago, Yunus has, first and foremost through Grameen Bank, developed micro-credit into an ever more important... Continue Reading >>

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